UN slams Israel's use of 'advanced military weaponry' in Jenin

GENEVA, June 23 (Arab News)/ Al Jazeera): The violence in the occupied West Bank "risks spiralling out of control", according to the United Nations human rights chief who condemned Israel's use of deadly force in a raid in the Jenin refugee camp that killed at least seven Palestinians, including children.
Israeli forces stormed the Jenin refugee camp on Monday to arrest two suspects.
What followed was a 20-year first: the use of helicopter gunships in the occupied West Bank, with the gunships pummelling the camp and, in addition to the deaths, injuring 91 people.
The UN's Volker Turk made the remarks on Friday, warning that the situation was deteriorating sharply due to the use of heavy weaponry, urging Israel to stop the violence.
"This week's violence in the occupied West Bank risks spiralling out of control, fuelled by strident political rhetoric, and an escalation in the use of advanced military weaponry by Israel," Turk said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the new outbreak of violence in the occupied West Bank could spiral out of control, the UN human rights chief warned Friday.
This week, at least 18 people have been killed in the territory - in incursions by the Israeli military or attacks by Palestinians or Jewish settlers.
"These latest killings and the violence, along with the inflammatory rhetoric, serve only to drive Israelis and Palestinians deeper into an abyss," Volker Turk said in a statement.
So far this year, more than 200 people have died in violence linked to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the vast majority of them Palestinians.
Deadly violence has flared in recent days in the northern West Bank, a stronghold of Palestinian armed groups where Israel has stepped up military operations.